Surgeon&#39;s mouth gag



E. A. STORZ SURGEONS MOUTH GAG Filed July 10, 1958 5/ 57 FIGI.

United States Patent Office SURGEONS MOUTH GAG Eric A. Storz, St. Louis,Mo., assignor to Storz Instrument Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporationof Missouri Filed July 10, 1958, Ser. No. 747,758

11 Claims. (Cl. 128-12) This invention relates to surgical instruments,and more particularly to mouth gags.

Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision ofa mouth gag adapted to hold the mouth open and the tongue depressed forexaminations and surgical operations in and beyond the oral cavity; theprovision of a gag of the class described having an improved adjustableform of bite, permitting flexible application of the gag into the mostappropriate position for the examination or surgical operation to beperformed; the provision of a gag of the class described which has animproved interchangeable means for mounting bites thereon of bothswiveling and rigid types; and the provision of a gag of this class inrespect to which interchange of various forms of bites may convenientlybe accomplished. Other objects and features will be in part apparent andin part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the elements and combinations ofelements, features of construction, and arrangements of parts which willbe exemplified in the structures hereinafter described, and the scope ofwhich will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which several of various possibleembodiments of the invention are illustrated,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the mouth gag showing certain swivelbites in symmetrical operating positions of near maximum spread;

Fig. 2 is a right side elevation of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top plan View of Fig. 1 but showing said bitesin symmetrical positions at a near minimum spread; t

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Figs. 5 and 5A are fragmentary views similar to Fig. 3, showing thebites in opposite unsymmetrical positions; and,

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, showing the application of a rigidlymounted form of bite.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding partsthroughout the several views of the drawmgs.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, numeral 1 indicates ahandle having a finger piece 3 attached at its lower end, said handle 1forming a guide for a slider 5. The slider is provided at its lower endwith a finger piece 7. At 9 is shown a rocker having a clevis 10 pivotedby pin 11 to a clevis 13 mounted on the handle 1. The rocker 9 is bentat its lower end to form a pawl 15, movable through an opening 17 in thehandle 1. This is for engagement with ratchet-forming notches 19 in theslider 5. At its upper end, the rocker 9 is formed as a finger plate 21,beneath which is attached a leaf spring 23. The free end of spring 23engages between the legs of the clevis 13 in order to bias the rocker 9so that the pawl is normally driven toward engagement with one of thenotches 19. The upper end of the slider 5 is curved at 25 to form atongue depressor or blade 27. On the blade is optionally mounted ananesthetic tube 28. Attached as by soldering to the upper end of theguide 1 is a horizontal U-bar 29, having two transverse legs 31 and 33connected by a rearwardly curved loop 35. The parts thus far describedare conventional.

Attached as by soldering to the end of the leg 33 is a block 37. Theblock is located in approximately the plane of movement of the tongueblade 27. Block 37 mounts the swiveling bites 49 each comprising a rigidportion of V shape having downwardly converging sides 51. One of sides51 is longer horizontally than the other and has a laterally projectinglug 47 provided at its end with a depending trunnion or prong 41journaled in an individual hole 39 in block 37. Each prong is shoulderedto provide an upper portion. 45 of reduced diameter. Preferably prongs41 are split as shown at 43 and have a spring action which provides snugfits for the insertion and removal of the prongs and for their rotaryadjustments in holes 39.

Each bite swivels independently of the other bite and about a separateaxis. Hence the bites may assume a multitude of different angular andspaced relations to each other and may freely adjust automatically todifferent dental curvatures to which the device is applied. One side 51of each bite member is enlarged and smoothly rounded at 55 to provide anupwardly facing surface for bearing against the hard palate and preventundue pressure on the front teeth. Both sides .51 of each bite membercontain holes 53. Cushion strips 57, of rubber or the like, haveintegral headed buttons 59 inserted through holes 53 and hold strips 57in position as bite liners.

Operation of the gag thus far described is as follows:

The plate 21 is depressed to Withdraw the pawl 15 from notches 19 andthe slider 5 is raised by pushing up on the finger piece 7. The tonguedepressor 27 is then inserted into the patients mouth, part 29 beingoutside of the month. At this time the strips 57 of members 49 arepushed up over appropriate ones of the patients upper front teeth. Thestrips 57 adjust their positions to the curvature of the tooth arch, asillustrated in Fig. 3 for a small arch. Then the slider 5 is pulleddown, so as to force the blade 27 down against the tongue to clear theoral cavity to the extent desired.

Before, during or after application, the whole assembly may be rocked onvertical axis L and the members 49 placed in relatively unsymmetricalpositions, as illustrated by Figs. 5 and 5A. This is made possible byreason of the turning permitted to each pocket member 49 by rotation ofits prong 41 in its respective hole 39. Consequently, the operator mayfreely locate the gag in the most convenient position for theexamination or surgical operation with which he is concerned. In sodoing, the blade 27 may be angled into any desirable sidewise position,as suggested by Figs. 5 and 5A. Likewise, the anesthetic tube, ifemployed,- will be directed sidewise. The rocked positions selected inFigs. 5 and 5A have not been chosen for any particular tooth arch to beaccommodated but to show various articulations possible. Uponapplication of the strips 57 to the teeth, the proper positions to matchthe tooth arch curvatures are assumed automatically.

If desired, the members 49 may be removed by removing their prongs 41from the holes 39 and fixed trunnions or prongs 61 inserted, such asillustrated in Fig. 6. These prongs 61 form rigid extensions from abracket 63 of a curved member 65, to which is attached a dome-shapedextension 67. Nested between the members 65 and 67 is a resilient member69, curvilinearly grooved as shown at 71 and having a palate-engagingdome 73. Attach- Patented Aug. 2, 1960 ments between parts 69 and 65 areshown at 66. Thus member 69 may be nested over the patients front upperteeth. The prongs 61 may or may not be split as are prongs 41. Suchsplitting aids their insertion or removal but is not necessary forrotary positioning of them in their holes, for they are nonrotary. Theoperation of the invention with the attachment of Fig. 6 is like thatabove described, except that there is no rotation of the assembly 65,67, 69, 71 and 73 with respect to the block 37. Nevertheless, under somecircumstances such an alternative nonrotary arrangement is desired. Thecurvature for the parts 65, 67, 69, 71 and 73 is that for a child, butthe curvature of similar parts for an adult may be employed. Theadjustability of the instrument is an aid to avoiding aspiration of theanesthetic projected from the ether tube 28, since the anesthetic may beprojected sidewise along the blade 27 when the blade is angled, as shownin Figs. or 5A.

In view of the above, it will be seen that .the several objects of theinvention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As various changes could be made in the above constructions withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

I claim:

1. In a mouth gag having a two-legged loop member on one leg of which isa guided slide for a manually adjustable tongue blade; the improvementcomprising a pair of bite members having independent upright swivelmounts on the other leg of said loop member, said members being movableon their respective mounts into various horizontal angular relations inthe same general horizontal plane.

2. The improvement in a mouth gag having a twolegged loop member on oneleg of which is a guided slide for a manually adjustable tongue blade;comprising a pair of separate bite members, individual prongs on thebite members respectively, and a member on the other leg of said loopmember having spaced holes therein with upright axes in which saidprongs are journaled.

3. The improvement in a mouth gag having a generally U-shaped loopmember with its legs arranged one above the other and the lower leg ofwhich is a guided slide for a manually adjustable tongue blade;comprising a pair of separate bite members, an individual pivot prongrigid with each bite member, and a member on the other leg of said loopmember having spaced holes therein, each receiving one of said prongs,whereby said bite members are independently rotatable in andindependently removable from said holes.

4. The improvement in a mouth gag having a generally U-shaped loopmember with legs disposed generally horizontally one above the other, aratchet-controlled guided slide on the lower leg for a manually andvertically adjustable tongue plate adapted to carry an anesthetic tube,a part of the other leg being provided with a pair of holes with uprightaxes, a pair of separate bite members, each having a split prongslidable vertically into and out of one of said holes and independentlyrotatable therein.

5. The improvement in a mouth gag having a generally U-shaped loopmember with its legs disposed generally horizontal and one above theother and on the lower leg of which is a ratchet-controlled guided slidefor a manually adjustable tongue plate adapted to carry an anesthetictube, comprising a rigid block on the other leg of the U-shaped memberprovided with a pair of upright holes, said holes being spaced aparthorizontally, and tooth-engageable means having upwardly facing grooveelements and having downwardly projecting mounting pins received in saidholes.

6. The improvement in a mouth gag according to claim 2, wherein eachbite member is rigid and of V- shaped vertical cross section and anindividual strip of cushion material is seated within each V-shapedmember.

7. The improvement in a mouth gag according to claim 6, wherein eachV-shaped rigid member is formed with opposite openings and each strip isformed with opposite resilient buttons inserted in respective oppositeopenings and anchoring the strip therein.

8. The improvement in a mouth gag according to claim 6, wherein the sideof each V-shaped member remote from the prong is formed with a smoothlyrounded upwardly facing edge portion.

9. The improvement in a mouth gag having a twolegged loop member on oneleg of which is a guided slide provided with a manually adjustabletongue blade, comprising a pair of separate bite members having V-shapedgrooved portions arranged end to end but spaced from each other endwise,individual trunnions on said bite members depending therefrom and\ofiset lengthwise of the bite members from said grooved portions andpivoted on the other leg of said loop member to swing thereonhorizontally.

10. The improvement in a mouth gag according to claim 2 in which the twobite members are spaced apart lengthwise and the depending trunnions areoffset toward each other with their axes closer together than theadjacent ends of the grooved portions.

11. The improvement in a mouth gag according to claim 6 wherein eachindividual cushion strip extends beyond the ends of the rigid V-shapedmember.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS892,682 Price July 7, 1908 1,420,493 Moyer June 20, 1922 2,019,060Thibert Oct. 29, 1935 OTHER REFERENCES A Modification of theTongue-Plate of the Boyle-Davis Gag, from May 25, 1957 issue of TheLancet, page 1074.

